The Tokyo District Court on Thursday gave Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's former state-financed secretary a suspended two-year prison term for falsifying the political funding reports by Mr. Hatoyama's funds-management body.
Mr. Hatoyama dismissed the secretary last June and says he no longer has any ties with him. But the secretary appears to have wanted to prevent the case from dragging on and causing political trouble to Mr. Hatoyama. He fully admitted to the charges during the trial and will not appeal the sentence. He may have been worried that the case could damage the Democratic Party of Japan in the coming Upper House election.
The ruling said that the secretary falsely stated in 2004-2008 reports that Mr. Hatoyama's funding management body had collected ¥360 million in individual donations and ticket sales for a fundraising party. He also omitted ¥12 million in donations from Mr. Hatoyama's mother and sister from 2005-2008 reports and padded ¥30 million in fundraising-party ticket sales in 2006-2008 reports, according to the ruling.
Although Mr. Hatoyama was not indicted in the case due to insufficient evidence, another secretary of his was indicted without arrest and fined ¥300,000.
Mr. Hatoyama had said that he had had no knowledge of the falsifications of the political funding reports, and that they were solely done by the state-financed secretary. It has surfaced that his mother had offered him more than ¥1.2 billion in seven years from 2002. But he denied that he had had any knowledge of it. At one time he showed a readiness to make public documents showing how he had used the funds, but now he refuses to do so, saying that there are no precedents in which private documents have been submitted to the Diet.
Mr. Hatoyama's reluctance to fully explain his role in the political funds scandal and how he used the money he received from his mother could deepen popular distrust in him. The DPJ is proposing to abolish political donations from companies and other organizations to help eradicate political funding problems. Given Mr. Hatoyama's attitude, however, it is very unlikely that other parties will hold talks with the DPJ over the matter.
Mr. Hatoyama dismissed the secretary last June and says he no longer has any ties with him. But the secretary appears to have wanted to prevent the case from dragging on and causing political trouble to Mr. Hatoyama. He fully admitted to the charges during the trial and will not appeal the sentence. He may have been worried that the case could damage the Democratic Party of Japan in the coming Upper House election.
The ruling said that the secretary falsely stated in 2004-2008 reports that Mr. Hatoyama's funding management body had collected ¥360 million in individual donations and ticket sales for a fundraising party. He also omitted ¥12 million in donations from Mr. Hatoyama's mother and sister from 2005-2008 reports and padded ¥30 million in fundraising-party ticket sales in 2006-2008 reports, according to the ruling.
Although Mr. Hatoyama was not indicted in the case due to insufficient evidence, another secretary of his was indicted without arrest and fined ¥300,000.
Mr. Hatoyama had said that he had had no knowledge of the falsifications of the political funding reports, and that they were solely done by the state-financed secretary. It has surfaced that his mother had offered him more than ¥1.2 billion in seven years from 2002. But he denied that he had had any knowledge of it. At one time he showed a readiness to make public documents showing how he had used the funds, but now he refuses to do so, saying that there are no precedents in which private documents have been submitted to the Diet.
Mr. Hatoyama's reluctance to fully explain his role in the political funds scandal and how he used the money he received from his mother could deepen popular distrust in him. The DPJ is proposing to abolish political donations from companies and other organizations to help eradicate political funding problems. Given Mr. Hatoyama's attitude, however, it is very unlikely that other parties will hold talks with the DPJ over the matter.
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